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Cold Brew.

Woke up this morning with the world’s biggest migraine. Haven’t been able to shake it all day. Mint teas have been my friend, and the chocolate is a nice touch of flavour alongside such intense mint notes. I don’t know if it’s helping, but it’s certainly not hurting.

Send help.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Slightly dreading going into work this morning…

Not for any particular reason; it’s just one of those mornings where the warmth of your covers seem way more inviting than anything else possibly ever could. I’m allowing myself an hour more wrapped up all cozy before I start getting ready for work/doing all my morning tasks like feeding the pets, running the garbage out, etc.

I’m milking that hour, though! I’ve got a warm mug of this tea with a splash of Irish Cream flavoured creamer, and music playing in the background. It’s very relaxing/peaceful. The tea is smooth, and sweet with creamy, sweet syrup like notes, a touch of lemon, and warming cardamom/cinnamon – all with a custard/eggy kind of undertone that really brings in the french toast element. Apart from actually eating some piping hot French Toast in bed, I think this is probably as good as I’m gonna get this morning.

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/51PsDVIjaRE

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Recently picked up a tin of this in an online order during a period where ETTE was running a free shipping promo…

I have to say, that this might be one of the most frustrating ordering experiences I’ve ever had with any company. For starters, it took nearly three months for this tea to get to me. I mean, it was coming from Singapore so I expected it to take a while, but those three months the tracking for this delivery wasn’t updated AT ALL. So, after about month two and a half I had pretty much just written off the whole order as having been lost along the way. Like, I realize this is something the company has NO control over, but if a shipment has tracking I damn well want that tracking to be updated, especially if it’s coming from overseas…

Then, when the package arrived pretty well everything in it was wrecked. The bag with my Kebaya Blue sachets was open and they were just lying around in the box, and the tin of this tea was open, and poured pretty well everywhere. The only thing in tact, thank God, was the matcha I’d ordered. The damaged tea isn’t entirely ETTE’s fault; but the fact that this tin had ZERO protective wrapping in the box certainly didn’t help. Like, the box itself that this was shipped in looked crushed like something VERY heavy had been placed on top of it, and I think that’s the main culprit here but just… damn…

So, I estimate that I lost roughly half the tin of tea because it had either fallen out of the tin and, subsequently, the hole in the side of the box that had split open from it being crushed OR it was stuck to the masking tape that the post office had used to try and patch said hole, and could not be salvaged. The rest was just loose in the box, and I had to try to scoop up as much of it as possible/salvage it from the box.

I was really fucking mad.

But anyway – I finally got around to making my first cup of this one last night. Honestly? It was disappointing. Now, I have to admit that part of that has to be how much I had built it up in my head, and the months of having to wait for it. Plus, who’s the say how all the factors from shipping, like being loose in a box for potentially months, affected the flavour of the tea…

The main issue was just that it tasted really bitter/charred. I was very careful steeping this, as I am with all my Genmaicha blends, but it was just so off. It tasted like burned/overly roasted brown rice – ashy/char like, with a bitter edge from the green tea. No mango notes to speak of, either. Only saving grace was a bit of sweetness from the coconut in the body of the sip. Still, that’s one very small pro next to a huge list of cons…

Hopefully the rest of my salvaged tin is ok.

All I know is that I’m probably not going to be ordering from ETTE again after this last experience. It’s just not worth the headache.

Revisiting this fun creation again, but this time as a hot tea.

I made sure to drink this one in a clear mug, I really wanted to see the liquor colour. It’s really pretty; there’s just enough hibiscus in this one to give it this really soft, warm pink hue but not overly impact the flavour.

It’s a very fruity brew; a mix of tropical/exotic fruit notes from the pineapple and passionfruit combo with a sweet, juicy strawberry finish. Everything tastes really ripe and sweet and it’s hard not to picture fruit juices dribbling down your chin. I think it definitely captures a punch like flavour, too, with a softness to it from the white tea base. It’s not in your face kind of rich/full bodied in flavour – but it doesn’t need to be. It can be flavourful without being this slap in the face of rich, cloying punch notes.

Now, to be fair, I let my mom try it and she actually wanted a more robust flavour. I hadn’t told her what the tea was because I just wanted an unfiltered opinion and she described it as “watered down fruit punch” so I guess it’s only fair that to some people this might be a little weak. I just prefer having the option of something punch like that’s a little more stripped down/mellow.

Also; I did forget I was drinking this halfway through so the last half of my cup was pretty ice cold – and I have to say, it’s still killer as a cold tea. I mean, I’ve already tried it cold brewed BUT just letting a tea naturally cool is a little different than the cold brewing process…

Song Pairing: https://youtu.be/05v4nfUmBYI

Something fun, for a fun tea.

- Strong presence of vegetal and grassy green tea
- Reminds me of cucumber skins and lawn clippings, with a touch of earthyness
- Earthyness is the from the yerba mate
- The cucumber like note comes from the cool mint combined w. the vegetal green tea
- Makes for that crisp, cool cucumber like flavour that’s really refreshing
- The grassyness is from both the green tea AND the green mate
- Peppermint undertones in the top and body, and more of a main flavour in the finish
- Like I said, adds a “crispness” to the overall flavour as well as sweetness
- The goji is subtle but does add a bright red fruit element in the body flavour
- Starts as an undertone and builds into more of a vibrant, lively ‘bursting’ type flavour
- Overall, found this really relaxing
- And a good balance of a lot of really differing elements
- It was a good early morning cup with a nice, clean profile and clear tasting notes

Midday cuppa.

This was pretty warm and inviting. I think I liked it better this time; without the addition of milk – it was more carrot cake like. I mean, it still doesn’t have the creamy frosting/cream cheese icing component that I think it needs to REALLY nail the flavour but it’s a lot more carrot heavy in flavour, in particular in the body of the sip. Pretty natural carrot notes, too! The body is also quite malty. The rest is a mix of soft, warming cinnamon and nutty walnut notes in the finish. It’s a bit astringent, but pretty solid!

Cold Brew.

So, you know what happens when you forget about this tea when it’s cold brewing and let it cold brew for a solid eight fucking days? You get a liquor that tastes EXACTLY like grass, and strawberry scented soap. It’s kind of the worst.

Obviously didn’t finish the cold brew. It was nasty.

My cold brew game is slipping; I need to get to my brews more promptly! That was 100% my fault for putting off straining this one/forgetting about it. Poor, poor ruined tea…

Sipdown (338)!

Finishing off the last sachet of this one.

Last time I found it far too weak/watery so this time I was just kind of looking to see if that would be a constant problem or if it would taste any richer. I DID think it was a bit creamier/sweeter than last time, but it was still more watery/bland that it would have tasted as loose leaf. So I think, at the very least for this specific tea, it’s just not as good as the loose version. That said, if you WANTED a milder version of the loose tea then this WOULD be a good option.

About halfway through the mug, I did something a little different with this because I wanted more flavour – I added a small scoop of strawberry icecream on top. I’m kind of in love with doing this right now because it cools the tea down instantly to a drinkable point, adds more flavour, and slurping the tea through the melted down icecream froth is delicious. It definitely amped up the creamy factor of this tea, and the mix of raspberry and strawberry notes was pretty fantastic.

Now that’s the kind of flavour I wanted.

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

We sampled this yesterday as little mini iced lattes, and of course I had to try one for uh, quality control…?

Mostly I was just craving something sweet and creamy though; and this one definitely does the trick in that regard. I like that it’s got such strong coconut notes and even though I’m not the world’s biggest fan of chocolate in tea even I can get on board with the combination of creamy coconut, milk chocolate and sweet pecan notes in the finish.

This will never been a cupboard staple for me, and even a full cup of it would be too sweet/rich BUT a little shot glass of it as a sweet treat? Perfect!

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

Had this one hot yesterday, with a splash of milk.

Taste wise it was pretty solid; mostly a smooth, silky Creamsicle sort of flavour with grassier, floral undertones from the matcha base. There was something about it that reminded me a little of soy milk, and that was a touch weird because I hadn’t used soy milk in the cup – I was using regular 2% milk.

My boyfriend wont drink matcha because he doesn’t like the “powdery” mouthfeel. I’ve literally never had problems with that when drinking matcha… up until this cup.

I think it must be the power of suggestion/the fact I had his opinion on matcha in the back of my mind when I was drinking this, but I definitely thought the mouthfeel was really powdery. Not unpleasant; but definitely noticeable. Damn you, boyfriend, and your heightened sense of touch/texture! Seriously; he picks up on food texture SO MUCH. I mean, it’s because he has a bad sense of smell/taste so he relies a lot more on touch/texture with food, but now it’s got me noticing things that I’d really rather not be noticing…

Oh well.